Ema Rajic of Urbana, Illinios has made a verbal commitment to swim for the University of California, Berkeley beginning in the 2018-19 season. Rajic announced her decision on Instagram:

Rajic is a rising senior at Urbana’s University High School. At the Illinois High School Association Girls State Championships in November 2016, she broke the IHSA records in both the 200 IM and 100 breast. Her 2:00.27 in the IM downed the oldest record on the Illinois books, a 2:00.63 set in 1998 by Emily Pisula. She then lowered her own 100 breast mark of 1:00.90, set in prelims 2 days earlier, with 1:00.77 in finals.

The polyvalent Rajic swims year-round with Champaign County YMCA, with whom she competed at the U.S. Nationals and World Championship Trials in Indianapolis last month. There she placed 14th in the 50m breast, 18th in the 100 breast, 35th in the 200 IM, 51st in the 100 fly, and 69th in the 50 free, notching personal bests in all five events.

Rajic will fill a much-needed slot at Cal. The Bears’ top scorers in breaststroke, Marina Garcia and Maija Roses, will have both graduated, and the incoming breaststrokers in Cal’s class of 2021 (Alexandra Skorus-Neely and Ali Harrison) have yet to match Rajic’s 1:00.7/2:14.1 in the 100/200 breast.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swim/swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …